CHILI

[fifi]

After thinking about the regionality of styles of gumbo, I started wondering if the same thing occurs with chili in Texas.

I found this information on the famous Chili Queens of San Antonio and find that the tradition of chili goes back farther than many people think. The real shocker here?

A big plate of chili and beans, with a tortilla on the side, cost a dime.

BEANS? I am going to assume that the beans were served alongside.

Then it looks like it made its way to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. I wonder if it then made its way to Cincinnati where an aberation was born. Then other parts of the country got into it and now, every sort of nonsense is being called chili. (Vegetarian chili? GET A ROPE!) So there is all of that variation. But what I am wondering now is if there are regional differences within Texas and what the origins might be.

Any wisdom, Oh Guru of Chili?

edit to add: Look what popped up in the New York Forum! "A Taste of Texas on the Sidewalks of New York"

[Mabelline]

fifi, that old picture makes me think of something about Texas that I am so fond of: the first Monday tradition, and the fact that if you get 5 Texans and a table, at least one of 'em will start selling food!

[John Whiting]

The trouble with chili and authenticity is that it is so easily adapted in all sorts of ways -- and in so many places -- and still appeals. Vegetarian chili is served at the Cool Chili Company stall at Borough Market, London, and it tastes fine. In London so many of those who are interested in ethnic foods are vegetarians that CCC would probably cut their sales in half (as well as increasing their costs and preservation problems) if they included meat.

Chili belongs to the world!

[Robb Walsh]

This minute, I am proofreading the Chili chapter in The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos, which comes out in June. There is a lot of chili history and some wild speculation. I will keep the cat in the bag until then.

[fifi]

AH HA!

Remember folks. You heard about it here. (Or maybe I am the only one who did because I have been spending too much time under my rock again.)

I am looking forward to that one, Robb. Especially the wild speculation. You may have a cat in a bag now but you might end up with "civet cats in a footlocker" after it comes out. (Thank you, P. J. O'Rourke.)